Location-Based Start-Up Rummble Buys Wifi Tracker Total Hotspots

UK social mobile recommendation start-up Rummble has bought London-based wifi tracker Total Hotspots. The amount isn’t disclosed but Total Hotspots MD Alex Housley, who founded the business in 2004, joins Rummble as VP for business. The release (pdf) says Total Hotspots — whose corporate clients include Yell and Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) — is profitable, but doesn’t give a figure.

Rummble, similar to US rival Foursquare, encourages users to use their mobiles to leave comments on pubs and restaurants and share recommendations with friends — so it’s a natural fit with Total Hotspots, which operates a wifi locator iPhone app. The two companies partnered in January to create the app, which uses Rummble’s database of hotspots. In any case, Rummble users can now see where the nearest wifi spot is as they’re passing comment on the quality of the local pub.